Around noon, Fang Lin got off the bus with her luggage. It was two kilometers from her home, and there were no vehicles on that route, so she had to walk home.
Feeling hungry, he gave all the remaining food on the train to the women. He had only beef to eat and nothing else.
She found a rock to sit on, tore a piece of beef from the food bag, and ate it.
After finishing her beef and drinking some water, she headed home with her luggage.
She had too much stuff with her, so she had to rest several times along the way, and didn't get home until after 1 p.m.
I haven't been back for four years, and the house hasn't changed at all; it's still the same as before.
Fang Lin walked into the courtyard, where her stepmother was sitting in the sun. She was startled to see Fang Lin return.
In her mind, this girl would never come back in her life, and no matter who bought her, she could never make her run away.
She asked, "Why are you back?"
Fang Lin said with tears in her eyes, "You're surprised I'm back, aren't you? This is my home. Shouldn't I come back? Let me tell you, I went to the police station to register before I came back. Don't try to sell me again. If I hadn't gone to the police station to cancel my registration before I left, the police would have come to our house to take me away. You don't believe me? Try it."
In fact, Fang Lin didn't go to the police station at all. Her purpose in doing so was to make her stepmother behave, because she was really afraid that this kind of woman would sell her again.
The stepmother said, "Four years ago, it was all because my aunt was bewitched. Please don't hold it against me, and don't tell your father, okay?"
In a fit of rage, Fang Lin slapped her stepmother several times, tears welling in her eyes, and said, "Alright, let's call it even. How could my father have married such a shameless woman like you? Don't worry, he won't expose you for my younger siblings' sake. Where is my father?"
The stepmother raised her hand to touch her stinging face. Knowing she was in the wrong, she dared not resist. She said, "Your father took your younger brother and sister up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots."
Fang Lin is a girl who was born and raised here. She knows very well how bamboo shoots grow in her hometown, where they can be found all year round.
Bamboo shoots come out every February. Today is February 18th. It's normal for her father to go up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots. She knows her father is a man who can't rest. He can earn some money by digging bamboo shoots.
Fang Lin didn't want to stay at home for even a minute longer, so she put her luggage inside, turned around, and walked out of the house towards the mountain.
There are many places with bamboo forests on the mountain, I don't know where my father went to dig bamboo shoots.
She searched several places but couldn't find her father. Finally, she found him in a deep ditch.
Fang Lin used to dig bamboo shoots in this ditch all the time; she knew it very well.
This ravine is very deep and wide, with a stream at the bottom, and bamboo groves on both sides of the stream.
Fang Lin has a younger brother and sister, both born to her stepmother. Her sister is sixteen years old this year, and her brother is only fourteen.
When Fang Hui saw Fang Lin, she said, "Dad, my eldest sister is back."
Fang Lin's father just turned fifty this year, and his hair has turned much whiter in the four years since we last saw him.
This was the first time she had seen her father in four years. She ran up to him, threw herself into his arms, and cried, "Dad, your unfilial daughter has returned?"
Fang Lin has been missing for so many years, hasn't her father gone to the university to look for her?
Of course I looked, but it was too late. By the time I found the college, Fang Lin had already graduated.
Four years ago, Lin came home for summer vacation. On the day her stepmother sold her, her father returned home from working in the fields and couldn't find his eldest daughter. He asked, "Her mother, where did Lin go?"
The stepmother lied, saying, "Lin'er said she's going to visit a classmate in another city for a while and won't be back before school starts."
"Why is this child so troublesome? He didn't even say goodbye before leaving."
Although the father complained about his daughter, he didn't think about anything else, and he never imagined that his wife would sell his own daughter.
His daughter still hadn't returned for the Spring Festival. He said, "It's already New Year's Eve, why hasn't my daughter come back yet?"
The stepmother took out a forged letter and handed it to her husband, saying, "I received a letter a few days ago, but I forgot to show it to you. Take a look; our daughter said she won't be coming home for Chinese New Year this year."
Why didn't she give this letter to her husband beforehand?
Would she dare? She didn't know if Fang Lin had run away from the buyer's house. In this day and age, many wives who were bought and sold ran away. How could she dare to take out the letter in advance? If Fang Lin came back before the Spring Festival, she wouldn't be able to explain it clearly.
So she didn't take out the forged letter until New Year's Eve. She believed that Fang Lin wouldn't come back if she didn't want to, and if she could come back, she would have come back long ago. If she wasn't mistaken, Fang Lin was already several months pregnant at this time, and with such a big belly, she couldn't run away even if she wanted to.
The father checked the letter and confirmed it was indeed his daughter's handwriting. He said, "Why is this child so troublesome? She didn't even come home to see her father for the Spring Festival."
The following summer, his daughter was supposed to graduate and come home, but a month had passed and she still hadn't returned. The father was getting really impatient.
The next day, he bought a train ticket to go to the college to find his daughter.
Three days later, when they arrived at the college, the college told them that their daughter, Fang Lin, had already graduated and gone back home.
After hearing this, the father was finally able to put his mind at ease for the time being.
My daughter has been studying here without incident for at least a year, but where can she go during her month-long vacation? She should at least go back to her hometown to work.
The father was always heartbroken because he couldn't see his daughter come home. Every day felt like an eternity in his hometown. When the Spring Festival came and his daughter still hadn't returned, he finally reported her missing to the police. However, the police investigated for many days but found no clues.
Back then, train tickets weren't issued under real names, so you couldn't check them at the station.
Another year has passed, and my daughter still hasn't come back.
He was truly at a loss. He knew something must have happened to his daughter; it was hard to say whether she was even alive anymore. He ran to his deceased wife's grave, sat down in front of it, and cried, saying, "Lin'er's mother, do you know where our daughter is? If you do, please appear in my dreams tonight."
He knew it was all in vain; his deceased wife wouldn't appear in his dreams. But there were many things he could only say to her.
He never dreamed his daughter would suddenly return today. He hugged her and cried uncontrollably, sobbing, "You naughty girl, where have you been for the past four years? Do you know how many times your father has cried for you?"
Fang Lin really couldn't explain it to her father. She couldn't exactly say that her stepmother had sold her out, nor could she say that she was disillusioned with the family and didn't want to come back. She felt that no explanation would be appropriate, so she cried and said, "Father, please forgive your unfilial daughter."
The father, weeping, wiped away his daughter's tears, saying, "My dear, don't cry, be good and don't cry. It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back!"
Fang Lin reached out to wipe away her father's tears, saying, "Your daughter will help you dig bamboo shoots."
The father said, "Let's stop digging and go home."
Fang Lin said, "I haven't dug bamboo shoots in a long time. I'll dig for half a day. When I leave, I'll take some dried bamboo shoots for my friend to take back."
After Fang Lin finished speaking, she took the shovel from her younger brother, picked up a basket, and began digging for bamboo shoots.
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